Read Gemini Rising (Mischievous Malamute Mystery Series, Book 1) for Free Online Page A

necks—was when Victoria asked to speak with the assistant manager.”
    “The manager had already fired him?” Leah asked.
    “He probably should have been fired, but no, it didn’t go down quite that way,” Abe replied. “He disappeared.”
    “Well, perhaps that’s not such a loss,” I countered.
    “No, probably not,” Abe agreed, “but when he went missing, so did all the other client’s paperwork.”
    “As if that weren’t a flaming red flag,” Leah mused. This situation just kept getting better and better.
    “So, is that something you’d still be willing to look into?” I asked, not even remotely familiar with the private investigator protocol, considering Victoria had originally hired them.
    “Absolutely,” Abe and Elijah said at the same time. Unless I was mistaken, they almost seemed relieved I had asked. Perhaps my affirmation meant they had passed some sort of imaginary test?
    “Well, I’m sure your brains are mush by now, we’ve covered so much stuff today.” Elijah smiled warmly. “Maybe now would be a good time to discuss where we go from here, if that’s what you’d like?”
    Though I was pretty sure he was asking me, Leah nearly swooned as she burst out, “We definitely like.” I rewarded her by smacking her arm, which drew chuckles from Abe and Elijah and a serious unhappy-face from Leah.
    “Yeah, I think so,” I replied as Leah feigned rubbing her injured limb, “but I’m not sure how we do this. Do we divide and conquer, or do you guys prefer to work solo?”
    “Heck, no, we’ll take any help we can get, plus, we’ve got Anna too, who has pretty much already made this case her mission in life,” Abe commented.
    “Wow,” was all I could muster. Victoria must have had as profound of an effect on Anna as she had on Abe and Elijah. In my opinion, they all seemed pretty loyal to the cause.
    “So, if you are cool with it, here’s what we thought some of the next steps—or action items as we call them—could be,” Elijah said.
    “Oooh, I like action items,” Leah cooed, but toned-down her oozing enthusiasm once she caught a glimpse of my I-will-smack-you-again look.
    “As I was saying,” Elijah stifled another laugh, obviously enjoying our banter, “if you wouldn’t be opposed to it, it would be helpful if you could find out some more information about the adoption, about your biological parents, their backgrounds, etc. We’ll have Anna send you the documents Victoria brought back from the London safety deposit box.”
    At my questioning look, he continued, “Victoria would have wanted you to have them. I know she would.” Elijah turned to his brother, who nodded in agreement.
    I nodded back. “I can definitely do that. Plus, as the adoptee, it would probably be easier for me to obtain the information, without raising a ruckus.”
    “Yeah, we’d prefer it if you limited the ruckus-raising. We wouldn’t want it to result in a brew-ha-ha, after all,” Abe teased. “Anyway, while you look into that, we’ll try to find out more about the dealership’s missing assistant manager and the client who took possession of Mrs. Winestone’s Jag.
    “In addition, we’ll be tracking down whatever information Victoria found that led her to believe your parent’s plane crash was not an accident,” Elijah said. I had almost forgotten about the cryptic voicemail Victoria had left Abe and Elijah. Her last voicemail.
    “She believed ‘bigger forces were at play’ that affected all of us,” I repeated from memory, my voice barely a whisper.
    Elijah nodded. “We’re not stopping until we determine what those forces might be. Whatever they are, they killed Victoria.”
     
    ###
     
    “Well, there’s good news and bad news.” Leah sighed as we walked to the parking lot several minutes later.
    “Bad news first, as always,” I told her, though I wasn’t sure I was prepared for any more.
    “The bad news is they didn’t pull up in a red Ferrari.” She pouted,